1991 Nepalese general election

General elections were held in Nepal on 12 May 1991, to elect 205 members to the House of Representatives. The elections were the first multi-party elections since 1959 and were a result of the 1990 revolution forcing King Birendra to restore a multi-party system. ^[1][2]

1991 Nepalese general election

← 1986 12 May 1991 1994 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 205 seats in the House of Representatives 103 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	65.15%
First party Second party   Leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Madan Kumar Bhandari Party Congress CPN (UML) Seats won 110 69 Popular vote 2,752,452 2,040,102 Percentage 39.50% 29.27%
Prime Minister before election Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Congress Prime Minister after election Girija Prasad Koirala Congress

Although the Nepali Congress won the most seats, its leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai lost in his own constituency, Kathmandu 1. Communist leader Madan Kumar Bhandari was elected in both Kathmandu 1 and Kathmandu 5, vacating the latter.^[3]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Nepali Congress	2,752,452	39.50	110
	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	2,040,102	29.27	69
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Chand)	478,604	6.87	3
	Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (Thapa)	392,499	5.63	1
	United People's Front of Nepal	351,904	5.05	9
	Nepal Sadbhavana Party	298,610	4.28	6
	Communist Party of Nepal (Democratic)	177,323	2.54	2
	Nepal Workers Peasants Party	91,335	1.31	2
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	34,509	0.50	0
	Communist Party of Nepal (Burma)	16,698	0.24	0
	Janata Dal (Samajbadi Prajatantrik)	5,760	0.08	0
	Nepal Rastriya Jana Party	5,732	0.08	0
	Communist Party of Nepal (Amatya)	4,846	0.07	0
	Rastriya Janata Party (H)	4,406	0.06	0
	Rastriya Janata Party (Nepal)	4,280	0.06	0
	Nepal Conservative Party	2,562	0.04	0
	Bahu Jana Janatadal	2,012	0.03	0
	Janawadi Morcha Nepal	1,518	0.02	0
	Ekata Party	94	0.00	0
	Dalit Majdoor Kisan Party	92	0.00	0
	Independents	303,723	4.36	3
Total		6,969,061	100.00	205
Valid votes		6,969,061	95.58
Invalid/blank votes		322,023	4.42
Total votes		7,291,084	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		11,191,777	65.15
Source: Nohlen et al., IFES

Aftermath

Following the result of the election, Nepali Congress came to power and Girija Prasad Koirala became Prime Minister.^[4] The house met for the first time in May 1991. Daman Nath Dhungana served as the Speaker of the House.^[5] The parliament could not complete its full five-year term with Koirala asking King Birendra to dissolve the house in July 1994 after losing a no-confidence motion with some member of his own party voting against him.^[6][7]

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1991 Nepalese general election